What Happened On This Day – October 8
1956 The first perfect game in Major League Baseball World Series
New York Yankees’ Don Larsen pitched the only no-hitter game against the Brooklyn Dodgers in the history of the World Series.
1948 World’s first internal pacemaker implanted
A 43-year-old man called Arne Larsson was the recipient of the pacemaker which worked only for a few hours. However, Larsson lived long after the pacemaker stopped working. He died in 2001 at the age of 86.
1919 World’s first transcontinental air race
63 airplanes – 15 from San Francisco and 48 from New York – took part in this 5400-mile round-trip race. The winner, Lieutenant Belvin Maynard, took 3 days and 21 hours to return to New York.
1912 First Balkan war begins
Montenegro started the conflict by declaring war on the Ottoman Empire. A few days later Greece, Bulgaria, and Serbia joined the war and created the Balkan League. The 7-month long war ended with a decisive Balkan League victory. Dissatisfaction over the spoils of the war led to the Second Balkan War a year later.
1871 Great Chicago fire begins
The fire that destroyed most of Chicago’s business district began in a barn on the evening of October 8, 1871. A very dry summer and an early autumn fanned the fire, which raged for 2 days. It killed over 300 people and destroyed property worth millions of dollars.
Births On This Day – October 8
1985 Bruno Mars
American singer-songwriter, producer, actor
1970 Matt Damon
American actor, screenwriter, producer
1943 Chevy Chase
American comedian, actor
1939 Harvey Pekar
American author
1895 Juan Perón
Argentine military officer, politician, 29th President of Argentina
Deaths On This Day – October 8
1992 Willy Brandt
German politician, 4th Chancellor of Germany, Nobel Prize laureate
1967 Clement Attlee
English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
1936 Premchand
Indian author
1869 Franklin Pierce
American politician, 14th President of the United States
1793 John Hancock
American politician, 1st Governor of Massachusetts